Analysis of energy harvesting wireless networks: Coverage, local delay and energy efficiency

In this paper, we analyze some basic metrics of an energy harvesting (EH) wireless network which consists of some EH access points (APs). The energy harvesting wireless network is modeled as a Poisson network. In the system, energy is harvested randomly from the environment and stored in energy queue (rechargeable battery) for data transmission. Obviously, the instability of energy will impact the performance of the EH wireless network. In order to describe the impact, we study the distribution of the energy stored in the energy queue first, and then take advantage of the distribution and the Poisson point process theory to analyze downlink coverage, mean local delay and energy efficiency of the energy harvesting wireless network. Moreover, circuit power consumption is also taken into account.